Community Focused Integration & Protected
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COMMUNITY FOCUSED INTEGRATION & PROTECTED AREAS MANAGEMENT IN THE HUASCARÁN BIOSPHERE RESERVE, PERÚ October 2015 | Jessica Gilbert In Summer 2015, ConDev Student Media Grant winner Jessica Gilbert conducted a photojournalism and film project to document land use issues and a variety of stakeholder perspectives in protected areas in Peru. Peru’s natural protected areas are threatened by a host of anthropogenic activities, which lead to additional conflicts with nearby communities. The core of this project involved a trip to Peru in May 2015 to highlight land use challenges in two distinct protected areas: Huascarán National Park and Tambopata National Reserve. In this contribution to the Applied Biodiversity Science Perspectives Series (http://biodiversity.tamu.edu/communications/perspectives-series/), Gilbert discusses the integration of communities into conservation management and criticizes the traditional “fortress”-style conservation policies, which she argues are incompatible with ecosystem conservation. Jessica Gilbert is a Ph.D. student in Texas A&M The Center on Conflict and Development University’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (ConDev) at Texas A&M University seeks to improve Sciences as well as a member of the NSF-IGERT the effectiveness of development programs and policies Applied Biodiversity Sciences Program. for conflict-affected and fragile countries through multidisciplinary research, education and development extension. The Center uses science and technology to reduce armed conflict, sustain families and communities during conflict, and assist states to rapidly recover from conflict. ConDev’s Student Media Grant, funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, awards students with up to $5,000 to chronicle issues facing fragile and conflict- affected nations through innovative media. INTEGRATING COMMUNITIES INTO CONSERVATION | JESSICA GILBERT BRIDGING ECOLOGY, CULTURE, AND GOVERNANCE FOR EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION Integrating communities into conservation users the independence to make and enforce rules Community Focused Integration management has become a priority for national within a circumscribed scope of authority for a and international organizations concerned with specific geographical area” (Ostrom 1998, Ollson & Protected Areas Management natural resource management. Traditional con- et al. 2004). Design, implementation, and man- servation policies aimed to exclude local resource agement by local people may ensure a more sus- in the Huascarán Biosphere users by placing a boundary between the com- tainable future for conservation, promoting more munity and the area of interest, often in the form equitable distribution of resources and steward- Reserve, Peru of national parks (Ascher 1995, Agrawal and Gib- ship of natural resources. These issues are at the son 1999). Park management has often priori- forefront of my ongoing research in the Central tized keeping local people out, following the view Andes of Peru near Huascarán National Park and Jessica Gilbert that human activities are incompatible with eco- the community of Huashao. Texas A&M University system conservation (Wells 2004). This “fortress” Huascarán National Park style of conservation has been heavily criticized as poor conservation outcomes following decades of intrusive resource management has forced Huascarán National Park (HNP) is a 340,000 policy makers to reconsider the role of commu- ha protected area in the department of Ancash, nity in conservation (Agrawal and Gibson 1999). Peru. HNP was recognized as a national park in 1975, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1977, and as Many attempts to integrate conservation a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 due to its priorities with community development have rich cultural and biological diversity. HNP is the been made, but their impact has been questioned. 4th most visited natural protected area in Peru, Attempts such as ICDPs (Integrative Conserva- with over 180,113 registered visitors during 2014 tion Development Programs) have been criti- (MINCETUR 2015). Tourism is steady through- cized for being managed by an external agency, out the year as patrons are drawn to world class often a protected area or an NGO (Wells 2004). hiking, climbing and day trips to turquoise gla- In many of these arrangements, the project gains cial lakes with striking mountain backdrops. rarely persist past the duration of the project or the presence of the external agency (Wells 2004). HNP ranges between 2400-6768masl over Additionally, many conservation agencies rare- 340,000 hectares and comprises 45% grassland ly examine the concept of community, assum- ing a community as a small spatial unit, a ho- mogeneous social structure, and a shared set of norms (Agrawal and Gibson 1999). Communities are complex interactions with different actors and institutions. Failing to recognize this com- plexity ignores how intra community differences may affect resource management outcomes, local politics, and interactions that affect multiple lev- els of community life (Agrawal and Gibson 1999). Rather than take a top down management approach, governments should transfer power to local authorities and decision makers to en- able people as participants in conservation man- agement rather than managed as subjects (Ribot Photo Credit: Jessica Gilbert Photo Credit: Jessica Gilbert 2002). This transfer of power “can provide local 2525 APPLIED BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE | PERSPECTIVES SERIES | NO. 5 APPLIED BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE | PERSPECTIVES SERIES | NO. 5 26 INTEGRATING COMMUNITIES INTO CONSERVATION | JESSICA GILBERT BRIDGING ECOLOGY, CULTURE, AND GOVERNANCE FOR EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION Protected Areas in Peru. This arrangement is heavily centered on harnessing the economic benefits of conventional tourism, opposing pre- vious arrangements where local residents pay the social and environmental costs of conventional forms of tourism, but seldom partake fairly in the benefits (West and Carrier 2004, Stronza and Gordillo 2008). Huashao is located in the district and province of Yungay, in the department of Ancash, Peru. The district of Yungay is home to over 20,075 residents, 50.4% which are considered to live in poverty and 20.2% in extreme poverty. The com- munity of Huashao is home to over 844 residents Photo Credit: Jessica Gilbert of 211 families, separated between 7 community annexes (Huashao, Incapacollkan, Yuracoto, Jara 34.5% moraine/rock, 14.8% glacier, 3.4% native for- activity within them, especially in the case of Allpa, Humacchuco, Coptac, and Huarca), small est, and 2.6% wetland (SERNANP 2009). It is home cattle grazing. The master plan sets out a strict clusters of houses that create mini metropolises to over 901 species of flora and over 241 species set of rules and regulations for these direct uses, and family units within the community area (Mu- of fauna, including endemic and endangered spe- however they are often unenforced and ignored, nicipalidad de Yungay 2009). Huashao is derived cies (SERNANP 2009). HNP is a long, thin, north to leaving the park susceptible to misuse and over- from the Quechua word “huasha,” which means south expanse of protected land surrounded by use. A major use of the national park is tourism, far away. Huashao is a traditional, Quechua human settlements and cut laterally by roads that with specific areas designated for recreational speaking community of small scale, subsistence cross the demanding Cordillera Blanca mountain use. The entrance to HNP through Huashao is agriculturalists and pastoralists that sell prod- range. Parallel to the park runs the Callejon de one of the most heavily frequented by tourists, ucts in the nearby city of Yungay. The principal Huaylas highway to the west and the Callejon de as the only road in the area passes the idyllic La- crops produced in Huashao are potatoes, wheat, Conchucos to the east, providing multiple access guna Llanganuco, a, 80m deep turquoise glacial corn, and peas, and in the past 5 years, flowers. routes into and across the national park between lake at 3800masl surrounded by elfin Polylepis sp. small, rural communities and larger cities in the forests and snow-capped peaks. Llanganuco In 2009, I conducted a series of surveys valleys. Essentially, HNP is surrounded by peo- receives approximately 60% of all tourism in the to complete a community diagnostic of Huashao ple; people with needs and uses of the environ- park, amounting to over 108,076 visitors per year while serving as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Us- ment. The department of Ancash in which HNP to this sector (SERNANP 2015). ing structured surveys and unstructured inter- resides is home to over 1,063,459 residents, of Huashao views, I looked at the level of participation that which 42.6% are considered to live in poverty and community members had within the park, per- 17.2% in extreme poverty (INEI 2007). These per- ceptions of park management, and interest in im- centages are much higher at the provincial level, The rural community of Huashao has been proving relations or learning more about the na- and some of the territory in which HNP resides integrated into park management in a mutually tional park. The majority of the community had has a population residing in up to 73.5% poverty beneficial agreement between community and direct uses within the national park from graz- and 44.8% extreme poverty (INEI 2007). park. Since its inception, this arrangement has ing, but did not benefit economically from tour- been the complete design and implementation of ism. Many community members